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Cook Children's Specialties

Looking for a pediatric specialty clinic? Cook Children's has more than 60 locations across North Texas, because even when your child's diagnosis is complicated, finding the right care should be simple.

Neuropsychology

When a child's thinking or behavior is impacted by neurological or neurodevelopmental conditions, life can get pretty frustrating for the child, parents, caregivers, schools–even friends. The neuropsychology team here at Cook Children's is here to help. We work with your child and family to design an individualized plan that will help your child develop their abilities and both your child and family to cope with these challenges.

Our team of neuropsychologists is highly trained and skilled in evaluating the needs of children, teens and young adults. When a child's diagnosis may affect thinking, his or her doctor will refer the child to us. We assess multiple areas of your child's cognition, such as thought, experience and the senses, in order to determine if deficits exist and what is causing the problem. Evaluations provided by our team can help you, your pediatrician, teachers and therapists assist your child in the most effective ways, based on your child's strengths and weaknesses so the he or she can achieve their full potential.

Unlocking minds. Shaping futures.

The brain controls thinking, communicating, learning, emotions and behavior, as well as everything else the body does. There are all kinds of things that can affect a child's brain activity: illnesses, genetic disorders, injuries and certain medical treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Our job is to help everyone working with your child understand his or her unique challenges. By working together as a team, we can restore as much functionality as possible and get them on the road to a brighter future.

We do this by:

Carefully evaluating your child's unique challenges and assets

Provide strategies for you and others who work with your child

Recommend additional services that could benefit your child

Working closely with your neurology team to assure the best possible progress

What is a neuropsychologist?

A pediatric neuropsychologist is a licensed psychologist with expertise in how learning and behavior are connected to a child's brain structures and systems.

The pediatric neuropsychologist uses formal standardized tests of abilities such as memory and language skills to check how the brain is functioning. He or she interprets the results based on expectations of the child's age level and makes suggestions for the best care. Based upon your child's needs and diagnosis, our neuropsychologists may follow their cognitive development for several years.

We work closely with a team of neurologists and neurosurgeons to provide the best treatments and interventions that meet the individual needs of each child.

What is an evaluation?

If your child is referred to us, our team can assess your child, teen or a young adult with a primary diagnosis of a neurological disorder that is interfering with their brain's functioning. The results of our evaluation will help to determine your child's plan of care.

The tests selected for your child's evaluation will be based upon his or her diagnosis, symptoms and age and may include any or all of the following:

Who needs an evaluation?

If your child is diagnosed with a neurological disorder or injury and your doctor suspects that your child is struggling with cognitive or behavioral challenges that interfere with her or his performance or behavioral functioning, your child may be referred to us. Some of the common conditions we see are:

Working together

When it comes to your child, all of us here at Cook Children's are of one mind: helping your child have the best outcomes possible. For that reason, the neuropsychology team works with many different specialists in a wide variety of specialties and clinics. These may include, but are not limited to:

Of course, the most important part of our team is you. You know your child best and we want to ensure that you are part of the process every step of the way. We are also happy to work with your child's school and other caregivers to help make your child's treatment plan be as effective and successful as possible.

Prepare for an appointment

Make sure that your child gets a good night's sleep.

If your child wears glasses, please bring them with you.

If your child has had previous school testing, or has related medical records, please bring these documents with you as well.

Call us at 682-885-7450 if you have any questions. Our fax number is 682-885-3308.

Patient forms

Please print the new patient packet then fill out the forms and bring them with you to your first appointment. The packet also contains helpful information such as driving directions, insurance and billing information.

Resources for families, educators and caregivers

For some children, daily skills can be a real challenge. As a result, they may act out with difficult-to-manage behavior. So how can you help them change negative behaviors into positives? The following series offer tips, suggestions and exercises so you can help your child, or children in your care, learn and use new skills through practical information that reinforces positive behavior. Feel free to download them here:

Learn about our neuropsychologists:

Marsha Gabriel Ph.D.

Education: North Texas State University – Denton, TX (PhD in Clinical Psychology, APA-accredited program)
Georgia State University – Atlanta, GA (MEd in Community Counseling, Department of Counseling and Psychological Services)

Morton CH. "Medical decision-making in children and adolescents: Cognitive, legal, and ethical considerations." Presentation at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center Ethics Grand Rounds, June 2009.

Morton CH, Shanahan MA, Kopald B, Strickland JPM, and Stanford LD. "Relationship between parental report of executive functioning using the BRIEF and child performance on the TEA-Ch." Poster presented at the International Neuropsychological Society meeting, February 2009.

Shanahan MA, Morton CH, Kopald B, Strickland JPM, and Stanford LD. The relationship between written expression and executive dysfunction in ADHD. Poster presented at the International Neuropsychological Society meeting, February 2009.

Morton CH, Dorflinger J, and Stanford LD. "Use of the ADOS in differential diagnosis of language versus autism spectrum disorders." Poster presented at the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology meeting, June 2007.

Morton CH. "Structural Characteristics of Cognition in Late Life and its Relationship to Functional Capacity." Published dissertation, 2007.

Morton CH. "Structural Characteristics of Cognition in Late Life and its Relationship to Functional Capacity." Published dissertation, 2007.

Morton CH, Woodard JL, Dux MC, and Pica AA. "Performance variations related to number of task trials on a computer-based neuropsychological measure." Poster presented at the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology meeting, June 2005.

Pica AA, Woodard JL and Morton CH. "The impact of executive functioning and information processing efficiency on semantic clustering during delayed and immediate recall trials of the HVLT-R." Poster presented at the International Neuropsychological Society meeting, February 2005.

Colaluca B and Ensign J. Best Practices in Assessing and Intervening with Children with Chronic Illnesses. In D.C. Miller (Ed.) Best Practices in School Neuropsychology: Guidelines for Effective Practice, Assessment, and Evidence-Based Intervention. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2009.

Licensed psychological associates:

Beth Peterson, M.S., Licensed Psychological Associates

Michael A. Smith M.A., Licensed Psychological Associates

We're here to help.

If your child has been diagnosed, you probably have lots of questions. We can help. If you would like to schedule an appointment, refer a patient or speak to our staff, please call our offices at 682-885-2500.